National News

Expert: Homes Can Be Cheaply Tornado-Proofed

A civil engineer is claiming inexpensive construction techniques could have kept most of the homes leveled by yesterday's massive tornado in Oklahoma standing. Andrew Graettinger with the University of Alabama tells NBC News that clips and straps used to keep walls bolted to the roof and the foundation of a home cost about one dollar each. Graettinger says the technique is already being widely used along the hurricane-prone Gulf Coast.

He adds for about two-thousand dollars more, a home can be outfitted or retrofitted with a safe room built to FEMA standards. Officials in Oklahoma say yesterday's devastating twister was packing winds of just under 200 miles per hour.